It's been a little over six months since the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI joined our long-term garage, and since then, we've put more than 17,000 miles on this Tempest Blue sedan. After spending much of the summer in Detroit, the Jetta TDI was road-tripped out to Los Angeles where the Autoblog staff in Southern California have been tending to the car.

October proved to be a busy month for our long-term 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Unlike September, where it bounced between our Los Angeles editors, the keys to the Tempest Blue sedan were in my hands through Halloween. During the past month, it has traveled all over Southern California and taken more than a few trips to Los Angeles Airport loaded with my suitcases.

While our long-term Jetta TDI covered thousands of miles in August, mostly thanks to a cross-country jaunt with Michael Zak at the controls, things settled down in September as the blue sedan became accustomed to its new California residence.

August was quite the month for our long-term Volkswagen Jetta TDI. Not only did our diesel darling roll over the 10,000-mile mark, it did so while making its journey across the United States – Detroit to Los Angeles – with AOL Autos' Michael Zak behind the wheel.

If the Volkswagen Jetta TDI featured in our Battle Of The Eco Compact Cars comparison test looked familiar, that's because it's our long-term tester. In fact, you might say that the arrival of our Jetta TDI is what sparked the idea for the comparison test, especially after Editor-in-Chief John Neff took the car on a few long highway trips and recorded well over 50 miles per gallon. And while the Jetta – spoiler alert! – may not have won our eco-warrior comparison, its 2.0-liter diese

With over three months and 5,342 miles on our Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Street Edition long-termer, we've moved from the honeymoon phase to the daily grind, and now we're appreciating the little things.